Thank You
by happysmiles013
Summary: This came at me as a random thought and as sad as the story is I found it to be something worth sharing. I wanted to write something to show devotion of one's love for another. I hope you like it


It was faint, but she could sense him near. She races around each tree, rock and stream in the hopes of finding him there.

"He couldn't be too much farther.." the young woman thinks to herself as she tries to keep her red hair from her vision. "I know he's wounded in more was than one now...ah!" She spots him and speeds off.

He lays at the foot of a tree in a heavy wooded area, like he wanted to stay hidden. He notices her, but only watches her as she runs towards him.

"Sasuke! Here!" She lands close enough to him where the dust from her landing causes loose strands of his hair to flutter. She removes her cloak and lifts her sleeve up to her elbow, revealing her long history of human healing on her arm. "Here, bite me!"

He doesn't have it in him to speak up, but with a hoarse pitch he does what he can. "...Karin...I..." he trails off.

She pauses in his silence and lowers her arm. She keeps her eyes locked onto him, taking a moment to be lost in her thoughts as many previous events cross her mind. "He has lost so much," she thinks to herself, "his family, home, and in the end his brother." She shakes away the sad thoughts to focus on the moment. Pushing up her glasses she grabs him. Despite how small she seems compared to him she takes him at the waist and lifts his body upward so he is sitting up with the tree to his back for support. The smell of the pine is refreshing and clean, the moss behind him is plush and soft. His gaze never leaves her face, and she doesn't notice. She looks at him now at eye level as she sits on the ground with him, she raises her arm again to his face, "here."

She doesn't have to tell him that 'this will heal you' for he already knows. She has saved him more than once before, she has healed him many times previous. He knows what she is gesturing him to do. He leans toward her, but he pushes her arm down with his less-bloody hand and comes near her face. He whispers hoarsely in her ear, "thank you Karin... but not this time."

Her heart sinks into her stomach worse than when she couldn't find him. She refuses to think he would be so stupid. "You aren't well," she says in a firm, commanding voice. "You need to be healed, Sasuke, and you need rest."

He makes a noise to what she though sounded like a laugh under his breath. "I can't..anymore."

"I don't know what in the Hell you're talking about but you need to do this before you bleed out." She knows in the pit of her stomach what is going to happen. Usually she can turn him around with her logic and sensible way of thinking. However this time she feels it is different, she can feel her chest start to hurt and her eyes burn as she holds back potentially unnecessary tears.

He leans back from her, letting his head slightly hit the tree as he still watches her. He can see it in her face that she understands but knows this may be a fight. She is a fiery one, like the rest of the Uzumaki.

"Why?"

"Because there is nothing left for me."

She knew the answer before she asked as she already knows each answer to every question that she wants to scream at him. She starts to shake but tries to hold her composure, though for what even she couldn't say.

She tries another tactic, "I never knew you to be THIS weak it's pathetic really-"

"Karin stop."

She complies. The sorrow begins to settle in, like water slowly collecting on a concrete floor creeping under a doorway.

His voice still dry and quiet he continues, "you've been able to convice me to change my mind before, but you can't this time. There is nothing to reason with. I just cannot anymore."

She looks down at the blood staining his shirt, she wants to ignore what he may ask of her. She starts to shake her head slowly before he even asks.

"Karin I need you...for one last thing."

She shakes her head more, "no."

"Karin..."

Each time he says her name it pulls at her soul. "No! I won't!"

"...please?"

"I...," her voice starts to crack as she thinks of her mother, "I... can't... I am meant to heal..."

"You have killed before."

"Yes! I have killed in self defense! Not like this!" A moment of silence passes before she speaks up again. "There is still a future for you."

"I don't see one for me as I don't have much time left." The wind blows gently as the leaves rustle in the nearby bushes.

She knows how much time is left for him. She knows she cannot force him to bite her or be healed. She is a fool in love who respects him too much. She exhales and drops her shoulders. Accepting there is nothing she can do. She swallows hard but the pain remains.

"Then...you...should..leave me.."

"Stop telling me...what to..do." She paces her words so she doesn't slip up and let a tear out and sits next to him against the tree. "You want me to leave you here alone to sit in your shame as some kind of repent. And for what? You have done nothing wrong. I don't give a damn if you want to hear it or not...I'm telling you anyway! They are the ones who should be suffering for what they have done NOT...y..you..." her voice breaks as she turns to look at him. She feels empty, weak and helpless.

His head is tilted at an angle as he looks at her with a small smile. The one she has waited for after all of these years.

"Why..." an accidental tear falls down her face though she quickly wipes it away, "why...are you... smiling?"

With what he is able, he moves closer to her and leans his head on her shoulder coughing a bit. He speaks breathlessly, "bec...because...you're...always... right..." he swallows weakly.

After a few minutes pass in silence, Karin looks off into the distance and takes a deep breath, "I'll bury you with your brother. That is the final thing I will do for you."

She can hear him struggling to breathe. The thought never crossed his mind as his eyes open slightly more, the dark marks under his eyes are getting worse. His head still on her shoulder, unable to move. "...thank...you...Karin," is all he is able to say before his final breath.

She feels him fade away as a crow is caws in the far distance.


End file.
